1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of personal health care equipment. More particularly, it pertains to a process of bathing an individual, who is confined to a bed, and a unique apparatus therefor, such as to enable one to receive body treatments such as bathing, massage and other ministrations without contact between the provider of the services and the recipient thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In providing health care, those in need are often gathered together to be treated by teams of specialists so that the efficiency of the treatment is intensified or that the total cost thereof is concentrated to be more efficacious. For instance, in hospitals, sanitariums and retirement centers, sick, infirm and aged persons in need of ministrations such as massage, physical therapy of the limbs and bathing are treated by teams of nurses, doctors and others who perform these services without traveling beyond the confines of the institution. In some situations, a single provider of services such as a physical therapist or a nurse may provide frequent bathing and exercise or massage services to a number of individuals during any given period of time. Because of this intensity, those providers tend to suffer from the constant physical contact that is involved in providing these services.
One can perceive, therefore, that a nurse giving baths to a number of patients would soon find his/her hands becoming sore from the loss of body oils through constant exposure to water and soap used in the bathing process. In addition, physical therapists find their hands become sore through abrasion and friction that come about as a result of frequent contact with the patient's skin. In other situations, individuals in need of specialized care are confined to their homes such as those who are aged and those who suffer from acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The individual is virtually hopelessly confined to a bed and is too weak to leave the bed and travel to a shower stall and stand or sit to bathe. In these situations, there is a critical need to provide the services to the person in the bed and, further, to bar any direct contact between the patient's body and the provider's body.
Still further individuals who are often in need of specialized services are confined to rooms that have no pressurized water outlet or water drain. In these situations, giving baths to the bed-ridden are confined to filling a bowl with water in a distant water source, carrying it from the water source to the bed, bathing the individual carefully so as not to wet the bed clothing, carrying the bowl back to the distant water drain, etc. This is very time-consuming and fraught with the potential for spilling water and wetting the bed clothes.
The prior art has attempted to provide a barrier to such contact between those who are in need of such services and those who provide such services, with the use of rubber and plastic gloves on the hands of the provider. However, these have not become popular because of their aesthetics. The prior art shows certain apparatuses for bathing, such as are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,749,064; 4,057,032; and, 4,083,328. These devices, however, are generally restricted to placement over a tub or other container that already is provided with pressurized water and a water drain and are not useful for individuals lying in a bed separated from such a source of pressurized water or such a drain.
The prior art further shows certain body treatment apparatuses such as are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,868,950; 4,034,424; 4,152,792; 4,353,359; and, 4,485,502. However, all of these devices are restricted to having a person encased in some sort of apparatus resting in one position only so that they cannot turn or be turned over to expose other portions of their body for treatment. Other forms of prior art have provided apparatus, including pumps and other water-transfer devices, often powered by electrical motors, for transmitting water from one point to another. These devices pose a constant danger to both the provider and the recipient because of the use of water or watercontaining compounds in the presence of electrical energy and the possibility of electrocution, and are otherwise very costly thus placing them beyond the reach of many patients with limited financial means.
One of the inventors herein has previously patented a portable bathing capsule. see U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,263, that utilizes an elongated sheath of water-tight material dimensioned to surround the body wherein means are provided for ingress and egress of fluids. The sheath is entered through an elongated opening having a sealable seam and the inside of the sheath is covered with a liner. This product has worked well over the years, however, it, too, has its own shortcomings and is useful only when coupled with expensive pumps and machinery to transfer water to and from the sheath.
There thus exists a continuing problem in the industry concerning home care or concentrated care, where the individual is confined to a bed and further, where the individual is suffering from a malady mandating a continuous, impervious barrier be established between the provider of services and the recipient. To date, there has been no such apparatus that is safe for use without the attendant problems of possible electric shock or that is totally portable and can be moved from a source of pressurized water to the bedside of the individual and that can be moved between individuals. Finally, in addition, there is a continuing existing problem because of the short-coming in present prior art devices to allow a person's hair to be washed while confined to a bed in a supine or prone position without the attendant problems caused by wetting the bed linen or the bed clothing of the recipient.